As the Executive Director for the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, I can definitively say that nothing is more important to the Chamber’s 700-plus members than monitoring and maintaining the quality of water at Smith Mountain Lake. Our member’s livelihood is dependent upon this body of water remaining pristine both now and for generations to come. Our members have and I assume will continue to support the testing of our water by the DEQ along with our local efforts with the Smith Mountain Lake Association’s partnership with Ferrum College which is now in its 38th year monitoring all aspects of water quality at SML.
I also understand the enormous economic impact that a VDH Swim Advisory can have on our tourism industry, having experienced that firsthand in the Summer of 2023. While the cell counts in certain portions of SML were elevated that year, none of the blooms ever resulted in elevated toxicity levels, and none of our swimmers were in any danger from a toxic bloom. Obviously, ensuring public safety outweighs the hinderance to tourism caused by a “swim advisory”, and no one wants anyone swimming in any water that might cause them harm. However, issuing misleading swim advisories based solely on cell count when the water is not actually toxic to swimmers causes a number of issues. First, the issuance of overly cautious swim advisories erodes the credibility of the VDH and the DEQ and could undermine the effectiveness of their efforts to warn swimmers should an actual toxic event occur. People will quickly learn to ignore swim advisories when the advisories are issued when no true threat exists. Secondly, unneeded swim advisories will depress tourism in our area as people will avoid coming to the lake if they incorrectly believe the waters are not safe.
Most importantly, the “new” standards are not truly new. All the VDH seeks to accomplish in modifying their standards is to bring Virginia’s monitoring of our waterways into alignment with the federal EPA guidelines. While there may be outliers, one would think it is safe to assume many, if not all other states, are following these EPA guidelines. Having our bodies of water held to a different set of standards for a swim advisory than other areas seems extremely counterproductive in predicting possible harm to swimmers, and also to promoting tourism in Virginia. So, I certainly understand the logic of the VDH following the nationally set EPA guidelines and support the decision to change the guidance document.
I assume our members will continue to support the monitoring of our lake by DEQ and on a local level…we have too much invested in this beautiful body of water to do anything else. Nonetheless, the new guidelines of the VDH should be adopted and supported.